Teen charged in fatal shooting was released despite warnings

Youth sent home by juvenile officials later charged in killing

Less than six months before prosecutors say Mical D. Thomas shot and killed a pregnant woman in front of her 13-year-old son, officials at the state Department of Corrections raised concerns about whether he had changed enough to be released from juvenile custody after a gun charge.

Despite repeated warnings the 16-year-old may not be ready for release, the department sent him home after a few weeks of additional programs, a Journal Sentinel review of juvenile court records found.

Thomas - like 18-year-old Jimmy Scales, also charged in the killing of Sharon L. Staples - was on parole under the department's supervision at the time of the Aug. 7 incident.

Both would have been off the streets at the time of the homicide if the department had kept them confined as long as it was allowed to, the newspaper's review found.

"It could happen to anybody's family," said Vanessa Colemon, a friend of the Staples family. "If they'd been locked up, we wouldn't have to worry about it. I think they should take a long look at who they're letting out and why they're letting them out."

The newspaper reported last week that three top officials in the state's juvenile corrections office in Milwaukee were put on administrative leave as part of an investigation into the cases of Thomas and Scales. The officials oversee supervision of juveniles who have been released, including the two.

Department officials say juvenile offenders are usually released before their time commitment is up. That way, if a juvenile reoffends or does not live up to requirements while released, officials can use the remainder of the time to add more services or supervision or to bring him or her back to custody.

"It's about having strong consequences we can resort to rather than no consequences or very limited consequences," said Margaret Carpenter, administrator of the department's Division of Juvenile Corrections. "Kids don't want to return to the institution."

In the Thomas case, court records show corrections officials had requested a one-year extension of his supervision, though it's unclear if that meant they wanted to increase his parole time or return him to custody. But the day before the request was to be processed in Children's Court, prosecutors say Thomas shot Staples in front of her 13-year-old son.

"The damage is done," said Colemon, who helps take care of Staples' seven children. "These kids will live their whole lives without their mother."

In addition to Thomas and Scales, 15-year-old Malik Merchant faces charges in adult court in the incident. Merchant does not have a juvenile record.

Prosecutors say Thomas tried to rob Staples and shot her when she would not surrender her purse. He is charged with first-degree reckless homicide. When Staples collapsed, he and Merchant - whom prosecutors said acted as a lookout - fled, according to a criminal complaint.

The two later came back and stole her purse while her son ran for help, the complaint says.

Scales is accused of being the getaway driver. He was found delinquent for his role as the getaway driver in another homicide in 2008, the newspaper's review of Children's Court records found.

Thomas' record includes a series of incidents involving guns, stolen cars and robberies dating to 2007, when he was found delinquent of a felony for his role in an attempted armed robbery at age 12.

Records on Thomas

A few days before Christmas 2007, Thomas' friend, identified in court records only as D-4, suggested committing a robbery, according to a delinquency petition. The friend planned to use a small black cap revolver, and Thomas agreed to be a lookout along with another friend.

According to the petition, the man they approached with the fake gun on the city's west side wouldn't give up any money. When the man ran for help, the youths fled. But Thomas and the other lookout were soon caught by Milwaukee police officers.

Thomas cooperated with police and ultimately admitted to attempted robbery in Children's Court. He was put on one year of probation at home with county supervision and 20 hours of community service.

Within a couple of months, Thomas started missing curfew and appointments with his probation officer and disappearing from home, court records show.

Toward the end of May 2008, police caught Thomas - who had just turned 13 - after he led them on a chase in a stolen Ford Taurus through an alley at speeds reaching 60 mph, before crashing.

Thomas admitted to stealing the car. He was placed under county supervision for another year at home and enrolled in Running Rebels, a youth program that involves intense supervision, but he didn't adhere to requirements, records show.

Five months after the probation started, on Nov. 30, 2008, Thomas found a new target: a blue Dodge Caravan minivan - almost identical to the one prosecutors say was used in the Staples homicide.

Thomas later told a corrections worker he was high and had been at a party when he stole the minivan on the city's west side, according to department records in the Children's Court file. He drove the van to Ben Franklin Middle School the next morning. A teacher there later spotted him and a friend getting into the van and driving westbound until they collided with a new Kia and ran into a light pole.

Before authorities were able to hold a hearing in Children's Court, Thomas stole a white Jeep on Jan. 4, 2009, again leading police on a chase until he lost control and landed in a front lawn. He fled but waited for police in a yard.

A month later, he admitted in Children's Court to stealing the minivan and was sent to Ethan Allen School for a year.

Enrolled in drug program

Thomas was soon transferred to Lincoln Hills School, also run by the Corrections Department, to participate in a program to help improve his decision-making skills.

He told his supervisor he had been "chronically high" from smoking marijuana for the past year, sometimes smoking it up to four or five times a day, according to a review by corrections worker Allen Crevier dated Sept. 8, 2009. Thomas was enrolled in a drug program, but told officials he planned to start using marijuana as soon as he got out.

"I am being truthful, I think I can smoke weed once I am off paper!" Thomas told supervisor Laura Parent, according to a Nov. 19, 2009, request from Parent asking a judge to extend Thomas' supervision.

While at Lincoln Hills, he was placed in security several times for getting into fights with other juveniles. He was also placed in security after supervisors said he stole other juveniles' room keys and sold them back for $5 in canteen money.

"Mical continues to associate with the more negative, gang-oriented youth in the Addams Cottage Program and he stated to myself 'I feel I have to act all tough in front of the other kids!' " Parent wrote in her request to the judge . "This is an ongoing issue of concern and will be when reintegration occurs if he does not turn it around so to speak within LHS versus attempting to learn to do that in the community without the possibility of creating new victims."

The judge extended Thomas' supervision for 10 months, until November 2010 - the same type of request that was pending when Staples was killed.

In early February 2010, Thomas was released on parole to his father, who has repeated convictions of drunken driving and driving with a revoked license. Thomas initially wore an electronic monitoring bracelet to ensure he was home by curfew and attended school, and DOC workers said it worked.

The court records don't indicate when the bracelet was removed but say after it happened, he started leaving home without permission, according to a later review by the DOC's Crevier.

At the end of July, Children's Court records show police saw Thomas loitering at a corner store in the 4000 block of W. Lisbon Ave. Thomas ran and discarded a loaded .38 caliber silver revolver. He told police he found the gun in the street in a brown paper bag and was planning to sell it. He admitted to possessing the gun and was placed at Lincoln Hills for a year, until Aug. 9.

That was his final entry with the juvenile courts system.

Warning precedes release

Thomas was unable to complete an anger management class at Lincoln Hills because he started fights with other juveniles and grabbed a teacher's buttocks during class and was placed in security, the records show.

He was assigned to additional programming over a few weeks. In early May, Thomas was released "to corrective sanctions" at his father's house with an electronic monitoring bracelet.

He had good school attendance and followed curfew but tested positive for marijuana, according to a July request for a one-year extension of his department commitment written by his agent, Patricia Wolter. She wrote Thomas "has been given consequences for his actions" and was scheduled to begin individual drug therapy and was open to other counseling. He was supposed to start at Rufus King High School in the fall.

She added that Thomas' dad "continues to be concerned about Mical's peers and counsels him about finding more positive peers" but that he is fortunate to have "a close and supportive family."

A hearing on the extension was set for Aug. 8 - the day after the Staples killing. Thomas, who was still on the bracelet but had not yet been caught or charged in the shooting, did not appear in court.

Extension requests

Corrections officials won't comment on specific cases, but Shelley Hagan, director of the Office of Juvenile Offender Review, said the department sometimes requests extensions to allow the juvenile to complete a specific program.

A few months before a juvenile is released, a group consisting of department officials and the juvenile's family gets together to determine which services and supervision the juvenile needs to successfully transition to a life outside custody.

Asked how bad a juvenile's behavior has to be to justify keeping them confined, Hagan said:

"I don't think that decision is based on how bad the kid's behavior is. It's, how amenable is the youth to (institutional) treatment? Are there programs that will address why this juvenile is delinquent? What are the options that may be more appropriate for this youth to try? It's not, 'Is this kid behaving so badly we should let him go?'

"Public safety is our No. 1 concern."

State Sen. Alberta Darling (R-River Hills), who has pushed for juvenile justice reforms, found Hagan's rationale for releasing a juvenile puzzling. She said the Thomas case showed "a pattern of criminal behavior that was not dealt with appropriately."

"We're getting more and more of these cases," she said. "We have these kids who realize criminal behavior will not get serious consequences. They're living without a moral compass in an environment where they don't have adult supervision, and it's like a time bomb. These aren't isolated cases of severely serious crimes."

Darling called for tougher punishment of juveniles, saying a culture of weak consequences emboldens criminal behavior. She said Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn - who has criticized the juvenile justice system and the handling of Scales and Thomas - should lead a task force to identify reforms.

If we have a culture in which "nothing's going to happen until you kill somebody, that's what you find," she said. "We have 12-year-olds who are committing crimes with guns, and our juvenile justice system is treating the 12-year-olds as if they could be playing 'kick the can' in the backyard."

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Criminal history of Mical D. Thomas

Here is a look at the Children's Court record of Mical D. Thomas, who is accused of fatally shooting Sharon Staples on Aug. 7:

December 2007 : Charged in Children's Court with attempted armed robbery with threat of force, party to a crime. Thomas admitted to a lesser charge and was found delinquent.

May 2008: Charged with driving a car without owner's consent and fleeing an officer. After Thomas admitted to stealing the car, the other charge was dismissed. Enrolled in Running Rebels, a youth program that involves intense supervision.

December 2008 : Arrested on suspicion of taking and operating a vehicle without owner's consent.

January 2009: Stole another car and led police on a high-speed chase, court records show.

February 2009: Charged and adjudicated with operating a vehicle without owner's consent in the December 2008 case involving the minivan. Two other charges were dismissed, including the January 2009 case. After admitting to one charge, he was sent to the Department of Corrections for a year at Ethan Allen and Lincoln Hills.

January 2010: Officials extended his supervision time until November 2010, in part because of disciplinary issues.

February 2010: Released to community supervision under the department. Had to wear an electronic monitoring bracelet. Once bracelet was removed, started skipping school.

July 2010: Charged with possession of a dangerous weapon and resisting or obstructing a police officer. Admitted to the possession charge. Recommitted to Lincoln Hills for a year, to expire Aug. 9.

May: Released to community supervision with electronic monitoring bracelet. Had good attendance but tested positive for marijuana.